


A Few Notes Can't Hurt

by witchqueencirce



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:41:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28414068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchqueencirce/pseuds/witchqueencirce
Summary: Happy Holidays toKittyhawke56, featuring their Detective Kat Langford.Mason is tasked with watching over Detective Kat Langford while she's feeling under the weather.
Relationships: Detective/Mason (The Wayhaven Chronicles), Female Detective/Mason (The Wayhaven Chronicles)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	A Few Notes Can't Hurt

There are circumstances where the sound of the strings of a guitar would entirely grate against Mason’s nerves. And there are times when he does choose to enjoy the sounds emanating from an instrument, but it’s usually when the sounds are controlled by his own movements, where his senses are finely tuned to the flow and tone of each note as he moves between them.

_ But when it’s Kat’s fingers plucking on the strings of her guitar, he finds he doesn’t mind the sound at all.  _

_ It’s even calming to him. _

And if she were playing now, he wouldn’t mind sitting here perched on the edge of her sofa and letting the sound wash over him.

He leans back further into the sofa, imagining the way she’d position herself against the furniture, posed to take on whatever melody she wanted to come her way. 

He’s heard it before on the rooftop of The Warehouse, something he hadn’t been sure he’d ever have enjoyed from a human being. And yet here he was, longing for the sound upon the strings of a long-known instrument of a human. It certainly was not something he’d ever imagine feeling. 

But Detective Langford isn’t here in the living room of her apartment now, she’s been waylaid by a bug that’s been passing around the station - _ not only through Douglas, but Tina and Verda too _ . It had hit everyone -  _ well, except Unit Bravo conveniently _ . 

But none of Unit Bravo wants anyone looking too hard at the reason why.

It was a small, barely there illness that Mason doesn’t even quite understand anymore. With his own swift healing and invulnerability, a common chest cold is something that is long gone from his memory, and it is the same with the laryngitis that was brought on by it.

_ Not that he can ever remember what that would have been like.  _

And so Mason’s been here, at Kat’s apartment for the past few days. Both Adam -  _ and Agent Langford, but he’d never admit that to Kat _ \- wanted someone to watch over her while she was dealing with all that she was.

Mason had volunteered, it didn’t seem much to anyone’s surprise anymore, even if he found her apartment was too bright for him when daylight made its way in through the gauzy curtains. Closing his eyes helped sometimes. But then again, with Kat’s presence -  _ even in the next room _ \- the colours and light seemed muted and shockingly almost calming.

It’s as he’s assessing her apartment that his eyes had fallen onto her guitar. And that’s where his thoughts had started and lingered on attempting to use the instrument himself.

Mason picks up the instrument from its case and hesitates for a moment before touching the strings. This isn’t an instrument he is as familiar with. His choice is sitting in a corner of his room at The Warehouse, the upright bass’ large case propped up and collecting a little more dust lately now that he’s been here at Kat’s apartment.

That has been his for more decades than he’d kept track of.

_ And this guitar in his palms now certainly isn’t his. _

He debates touching his fingers more than just the solid wood of it, to bring himself near the strings that she gives so much life to.

And he knows it means so much to her that it was her father’s, a prized possession that she’s clearly taken care of -  _ the aged wear on the strap and case notwithstanding _ \- but the strings looked new and he’d seen her with it before.

He’d heard her with it before.

Mason continues his internal debate, finally settling on the thought that it can’t hurt to at least strum a few notes and try out what she makes look so effortless. It can’t hurt,  _ right _ ?

He brings barely a finger - _ fine, it’s two _ \- to the strings before he’s heard her voice from behind him.

“Mason?” 

There stood Kat, leaned against the doorway to her bedroom, so lost in his thoughts that he’d completely missed the sounds of her leaving her bed however long before and opening the door.

“You sure you want to be out of bed right now, sweetheart?”

There’s no suggestion in his voice this time - _as tempting as that idea was to get her back into it_ _now that he knows what it feels like to be with her in one_ \- and he’s not quite familiar with the concern in his voice, but it’s how he feels for her.

_ Concerned. _

“I am feeling better, really.” 

Her statement is punctuated with the words at the end of the sentence breaking and shattering as she worked her way through them.

He can’t fully bite back the chuckle in his words. “Sure you are, sweetheart.”

But truly, she does look farther back to herself than she has in the past few days. A flush has returned to her cheeks and she’s wearing a shade of red lipstick he’d noticed was one of her favourites for the frequency that she wore it. 

_ It was becoming one of his favourites too. _

He took a moment longer to assess her, eyes roaming down the shapely curves of her dress, the fabric full of sunflowers and assorted wildflowers, before he slowly drags his eyes back up to those pretty red lips.

“You can play it, if you want.” Her words are steadier this time.

He’d forgotten about the guitar in his hands.

“I don’t know how, really. I’d rather hear you play.” He holds out the instrument to her, palms upward and offers it over.

She gives him a soft smile as she takes it from him, moving to sit in front of the mass of brightly coloured pillows on her couch, where she perches herself with her guitar on her knee.

He likes that smile, finds himself seeking it out more and more often. Finds himself seeking out just her in general... even if it is under the guise of a babysitting task from his Commanding Agent at times.

Kat begins to strum the first cords of whatever music she has chosen to play - _ it’s not one that Mason recognizes _ \- and it sounds…

Well, it sounds better than any music Mason’s heard in a very long time.

And when her voice joins in with it he’s mesmerized, so much in fact that he barely notices the way her voice shatters and breaks with the first long-held note.

Until he sees the face she makes at the sound. It’s only then that he notices she does sound a little hoarse and she blushes, the colour rising to her cheeks when she realizes her voice isn’t quite as it usually is. He wants to prompt her to continue, but when she sets the guitar back in its case.

“I’m sorry. I think I need a little longer before I can sing like I want.”

“You could just play instrumental?” 

“What about a movie?” She gives him a sheepish smile, wanting to end the music session before it had even really begun. “Next time you’re here, I promise I’ll sing.”

Mason leans back a little further onto the arm of the couch, enjoying the insinuation of him spending more time with her. “Sure, sweetheart.”

She smiles at that and sits on the sofa cushion, nearest the arm that he still finds himself perched on. She knows he won’t leave until Adam gives him the say so to do so, so they might as well pass the time.

_ Well, at least until Mason suggests another time-consuming activity if she’s feeling up to it later. _ But that’s not for now.

She scrolls for a moment on the tv screen, gasping delightedly when she seems to find something that interests her. “Willow!”

“What?”

“A movie - I didn’t realize it was an option now. It’s one of my favourites!”

She looks at him excitedly and it takes a moment before it dawns on him that she’s waiting for his response.

“I haven’t seen it.”

“You haven’t!” Mason would have thought it would be harder to be more excited than she was in finding the film -  _ but he’s wrong _ . She seems even more excited now that she has the opportunity to show him it for the first time. It amuses him.

And so she does. She settles into the couch, not quite leaning against the arm he’s been perched on and presses play.

Mason isn’t sure how long has passed when he peers at her from the corner of his eye, focused on the strand of hair that’s fallen from one of her buns that sit on her head. He almost forgets about the movie that she’s so intently focused on when he slowly reaches up to brush the hair back into place - but he stops before he actually touches her.

“Can I fix this?”

She jumps at the words, lost in the world of prophecies and sorcerers and in Mason’s opinion a rather decent-looking long and dark haired man - _ he could certainly appreciate the man’s sense of hair style _ .

She nods for him, swallowing hard, stopping any words she could have said. She nods again when he takes a moment longer to admire those pretty red lips again.

He almost moves in a semi-circle around her to sit on the couch cushions beside her, but there’s something in him that has him climbing off the arm and moving to his knees in front of her.

Mason keeps his eyes trained on her lips, finds it hard to look away from something he wants to touch so much.

He reaches out to her, hands hovering before she gives another nod for him to proceed. His touch is gentle, expertly tucking the strand back to it’s rightful place.

He hesitates before he pulls his hand fully away and instead moves to caress his knuckles down her cheeks, making her eyes close at the sensation.

He wants to kiss her more than anything else at that moment.

“Please, Mason.” She gives a soft nod along with her words before he moves closer, clearly wanting nothing more than that either.

The kiss is slow, deliberate in every movement he makes towards her. He parts his lips slightly, prompting her to do the same. He kisses her with an ease that he’s becoming accustomed to, with a passion he isn’t sure he’s had before he’s met her.

“Your voice was beautiful earlier.” The words are barely a murmur against her lips, falling from them before he’d even really thought to hold them back. He isn’t sure that she’d even heard him until her lips press firmer against his, arms circling around his shoulders.

The movie’s forgotten long before the time the credits roll.

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out my writing masterpage on tumblr!](https://witchqueencirce.tumblr.com/writing) Thank you for reading! ❤


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